Deterministic Acceptance Versus Moral Outrage: A Problem of Literary Naturalism in Frank Norris' The Octopus

Summary In Frank Norris' novel The Octopus the reader is on the one hand invited to launch a moral protest against the conditions prevailing in the fictional world, but on the other hand he is encouraged to accept them in the spirit of determinism. This article argues that this inconsistency in the novel is inescapable, and examines the elements from which it arises in some detail. It is then shown that the inconsistency can be traced back to Norris' intellectual background, where naturalism, Calvinism and American philosophies of evolution provided conflicting impulses. Finally, it is argued that the tension between determinism and moral outrage can also be observed in other naturalist writers, and that both qualities can be seen to stem, in different ways, from the emphasis which these writers laid on the conditioning forces of heredity and environment.